Football Saturday

Well, I woke up at 11:30 on Saturday morning, ready for some college football, as I placed a couple small bets the night before to make things a little more interesting…Here are the games I was presented with on the tube upon rolling out of bed: UVA at Syracuse, Oregon St. at Louisville, and SMU at A&M, as well as Eastern Michigan at Michigan and Ole Miss at Vanderbilt on ESPN Gameplan….Not the greatest match-ups, but I had money on UVA and I almost bet on Louisville, Eastern Michigan, and Vandy. However, while checking the channel guide at one point, I noticed that there was a Laguna Beach ‘mini-marathon’ on MTV, which could hold me over until the Ohio State game starts at 2:30…

(And yes, that says 11:30 above, but I was up ‘til 3:00 watching bad TV. I have no problem going to bed at 2:00, because I would have been up that late anyway had I gone to a bar, yet I should have just turned off the TV then after watching Ellen Barkin get freaky with Al Pacino in “Sea of Love”…However, I decided to flip through the movie channels one more time, and I saw “Wild Things 2” was playing on Encore, not knowing they ever made a second one…Anyway, I didn’t see the first hour of it, but after watching the last 45 minutes, it’s safe to say that this ‘film’ could be in the discussion for worst movie ever…It’s definitely one of the worst movies I’ve seen this year, a discussion that I can save for later…)

OK back to the games…None of the early games were really that intriguing to me outside of the UVA game—who were leading by 7 at the half—but I needed them to win by 8…So, the fact that UVA’s Marcus Hagans threw three picks in the first half had me wondering what could have been, but also optimistic that they could cover if they didn’t have as many turnovers in the second half…

In the other games, I was close to taking Louisville (–14.5), but couldn’t pull the trigger and it looked like the smart bet at first with Oregon State opening up with a 10-0 lead…Maybe not, as at the half, the score was:

Louisville 35
Oregon State 10

I also thought about taking Eastern Michigan to cover (+29), but apparently Eastern Michigan isn’t exactly Notre Dame…At the half:

Michigan: 38
Eastern Michigan: 0

I also thought about taking Vanderbilt (-3) at home over Ole Miss, but then I decided against it, as I asked myself, am I really betting on Vandy? Well, maybe that shouldn’t have been such a shock to me, as I did win money on Baylor as a favorite during the first week…Anyway, at the half:

Vandy: 17
Ole Miss: 3

I flip the channel, A&M is up 11, but it looks like SMU is about to score—at least 3 points—with first and goal from the 6 yard line, yet the SMU QB fumbles on the three and then they tacked on a personal foul on SMU…In fact, the referee said, “Dead ball, personal foul on the white team…” This sounded a bit odd at first, considering they usually say, “on the defense” or “on the recovering team,” yet considering this is Texas A&M vs. SMU, on the ‘white’ team sounds just about right…

Anyway, for my school pick ‘em league, I need SMU to stay within 28 points, and apparently SMU picked up a safety at some point during that last episode of Laguna Beach, while A&M got a TD with 31 seconds left in the first half…At the half:

A&M: 24
SMU: 8

So, with most of the games at halftime, I decided it was time to go get some lunch and then watch Laguna Beach if the games don’t get better…More to come later…But damnit, after writing all of the above, I noticed the UVA game was back on…But, yes, I really needed to get some lunch, although I didn’t really know what I was in the mood for outside of wanting a large Dr. Pepper…That being said, I ended up just going to Taco Bell, as I like their Dr. Pepper out of the fountain more than McDonald’s and Wendy’s, while I think Burger King has Mr. Pibb instead…Anyway, I didn’t really know what to get, so I just picked a number and got my Dr. Pepper; the only thing I knew going in there was that I wasn’t going to order off the ‘value menu’ just out of spite because I absolutely can’t stand the “I’m Full” ad campaign (“The Senator has an announcement to make”…. “I’m Fuuuuullllll!!!!”)…Awful, awful stuff…

Anyway, after eating that dog food for lunch, I was too tired to write much else, so I just watched the end of the UVA game (UVA wins by 3, so I lose that bet), as well as some Laguna Beach, while waiting for the Ohio State game to start…Good thing the OSU game was on at 2:30, as the Laguna Beach ‘mini-marathon’ ended at 3:00, only to be followed by one of the worst shows on TV, “My Super Sweet 16”…That show is painful to watch, but somehow I’ve still made it through a couple episodes…Maybe I just now have a higher threshold for pain after suffering through 15 minutes of Britney Spears’ ‘Chaotic’ show one dark day this past summer…

Well, to recap the games I watched to start my day, somebody must have reminded the A&M players at halftime that they were playing SMU, as the Aggies threw up 42 unanswered points in the second half to beat the Mustangs 66 to 8 (And thus, that was the first game of many for the day that I lost in my school pick ‘em league)…

It appears that the Michigan players never lost sight of the fact that they were playing Eastern Michigan and they continued to roll in the second half, winning by a final score of 55 to 0. Turning to the Louisville game, the Cardinals made it pretty clear that the they are the favorites for the Big East’s automatic BCS bid, rolling Oregon State 63 to 27. Finally, in the Vandy game, Ole Miss was able to make it close for a while in the second half—trailing by a touchdown heading into the fourth quarter—but the Commodores were able to pull out a 31 to 23 victory, and thus, covered the –3…Yet, I put that money on UVA, so, unfortunately, I did not go to Sizzler on Saturday night…

Speaking of UVA, I know they were playing on the road, but did anyone ever tell them they were playing Syracuse? I have nothing against Orangemen head coach Greg Robinson, but that team is just not very good. UVA went up by 10 on two different occasions in the second half, only to see Syracuse tie the game late, before UVA hit a chip shot as time expired for the win…

Once it was clear that UVA wasn’t going to cover, I was hoping Syracuse would pull off the victory, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be, and after going for it on a couple fourth and ones, UVA called a timeout on the 2-yard line and kicked the game-winner…Despite losing the bet, I’m glad I stuck around for the postgame interview, as Al Groh dropped the following beauty on the national TV audience (in response to the reporter’s question of why went for it on a couple fourth and ones even though they were already in field goal range):

“Did you ever watch Risky Business? Sometimes you just gotta say what the heck.”

Yes, Joel’s dad did say this in “Risky Business,” but considering the many great movie lines provided to us over the years by characters played by Curtis Armstrong, I prefer Miles’ version: “Sometimes you gotta say what the fuck…”

(The rest goes something like this: “Make your move. Joel, every now and then, saying "What the Fuck" brings freedom. Freedom brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future….If you can’t say it, you can do it.”)


Now, for a couple other random thoughts from the day:

--I never thought I would say this, but I kinda miss Trev Alberts…I’ve always hated Mark May more, so I wish he would’ve been fired too (or instead), but Lou Holtz bores the heck out of me and after hearing him talk, I’d hate to be the intern who has to clean up all the spit on the podium after each one of their shows…

--Also, how does the Big East have an automatic BCS bid? Basically, Louisville is going to get a free bid every year until Notre Dame joins the conference or Dave Wannstedt is fired…Actually, I really have nothing against Dave Wannstedt or Pittsburgh in general, but considering Mark May went there and predicted them to compete for the Big East title this year, I really have no problem seeing them start off 0 and 3…

--Great work by the ABC crew doing the OU-UCLA game…Not only does Keith Jackson seem to not know where he is at times—bless his heart—but after a sack by OU’s well-chronicled meathead, Dusty Dvoracek, the ABC crew brought up the photo and stats for UCLA’s Nikola Dragovic…That’s Dvoracek, not Dragovic, you idiots…

--Finally, I really wish someone could’ve reminded Kentucky that they were playing Indiana on Saturday, the same team that beat Nicholls State at home by just 4…I decided to pick Kentucky (+1.5) as my final team in a three-team parlay paying 6 to 1…I won the first two games—Baylor (–5.5) over Army 20 to 10 and Miami of Ohio (–6.5) over Kent State 27 to 10—yet, Kentucky, who lost to Louisville by just a touchdown on Labor Day, got rolled by Indiana 38 to 14…Well, at least I didn’t have to sweat that game out, as Kentucky was down 17 to 0 at the half…


Well, that's it for now, but hopefully I'll have more to write soon…

The Game of the Year?

After a tough few days, I feel that I’m ready to be a contributing member of society again—if I ever was in the first place—and post on my blog. It hasn’t been the greatest week, as I’ve not only gotten some sort of cold, but more importantly, its taken me a while to get over Ohio State’s recent loss to Texas. Yes, it’s sad to admit that a college football game can have such an effect on me, but unfortunately, that’s just the way I roll…

On Sunday, upon reaching my departure gate in Columbus, I found myself surrounded by burnt orange, and I’m sure this would have been the case win or lose…At one point, I ran into a friend (a lawyer who I’ve spoken to in the past about law school) who was with his son, and we talked about what a great game it was, and he then added that both teams deserved to win, but only one could come out on top in the end…I know he didn’t intend to twist the knife with that last comment, but I had to leave the conversation at that point. As I boarded the plane, he asked if I wanted to sit with him and his son, but I knew I couldn’t talk anymore about the game, which I knew would have come up. I didn’t want to talk about the law or law school either…I didn’t really want to talk period…Thus, I made up some weak, on the spot excuse that I wanted to look for a seat with more cabin space above, and then went on my way…To be honest, though, I didn't really have much of a voice left to talk anyway...

Instead, I took a seat next to a guy who was wearing a black ‘Block-O’ hat, the type of OSU hat that Woody Hayes popularized. He had the window and I had the aisle, and despite the nearly full flight, nobody ventured to sit between us. The funny thing is, though, this guy and I never said one word to each other, outside of me asking if the aisle seat was taken when I boarded, and then asking if he needed to get out when we stopped in Nashville. Looking back, though, maybe it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise that we never spoke, as we probably knew the pain and disappointment that the other was feeling, and—at least in my case—I’d already had enough of discussing the missed opportunities, dropped passes, and questionable decisions from the night before.

After stopping in Nashville on my way back to Houston, the Southwest pilot made some sort of reference to our flight being ‘Longhorn Airlines’ or something along those lines due to the sea of burnt orange on the flight. In fact, it was at that point that I realized that I was the only Buckeye fan left on the flight—or at least the only one wearing OSU gear—which shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering we were heading back to the lone star state…I guess the four or five other OSU fans I saw on the flight out of Columbus got off in Nashville, including the guy I shared a row with.

Despite the disappointment I had in the game’s eventual outcome, I’m still extremely happy that I made the trip, as I never knew when I would have such an opportunity again—the #4 team in the country hosting the #2 team in front of over 105,000 people. I’d been hoping to make this trip for over 18 months, and it didn’t become ‘official’ until less than a week before I left. For months it appeared that the ridicurous ‘market’ for tickets on ebay—not to mention the unreasonable flights in and out of Columbus at prices that never budged—were going to prevent the trip from ever happening. Yet, at the last minute we were able to make it work, and the game was truly a memorable experience…

Anyway, while looking back on the trip on my flight home, I took down a number of things I could write about after my weekend in Columbus, but it would take forever to elaborate on all of these ideas. Yet, after having a few days to reflect, I hope to share some random thoughts on the trip and the game in my next blog…No matter what, I'm sure whatever I write about next will certainly be pretty random...

Word Association

Amid all the news coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, plenty of things stand out, some much more than others. The scenes from the Super Dome and all the looting certainly stand out, while I never thought I would see something as devastating as the overhead shots of a city underwater. However, one of things that has continued to stick with me throughout these last 10 days or so is actually relatively simple. In fact, its just one word:

ref·u·gee
Pronunciation: "re-fyu-'jE, 're-fyu-"
Function: noun
Etymology: French réfugié, past participle of (se) réfugier to take refuge, from Latin refugium
: one that flees; especially : a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution
- ref·u·gee·ism /-"i-z&m/ noun


I got the above definition from the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, as I thought I should look it up since I’ve never associated the word ‘refugee’ with American citizens. For some reason, I’ve always associated the word with events overseas in foreign countries, and not our great country.

Now, I wasn’t a history major and my grasp on world events—past and present—is pretty suspect. Sadly, I know many meaningless factoids about sports and pop culture, while my knowledge of worldly matters and historical facts and trends could use a lot of work...

For example, a couple months ago, while me and some friends were trying to decide where to go eat, one of my friends said “I’m Switzerland,” and then—probably in response to the confused look on my face—he added that he was ‘neutral’ on where we went. Despite his clarification, I still needed a further explanation. Apparently, I was alone here, as most people we quizzed thereafter immediately understood what my friend meant…It should come as no surprise then that this was just another time of many that my friends have called me an idiot...

Anyway, more recently, most TV reporters and columnists are now referring to the New Orleans residents as ‘evacuees,’ more often than 'refugees,' and that seems to be a better fit here, at least for me…Yet, at the same time, for the first time in my life, I realized that ‘refugee’ could be associated with America, as the residents of New Orleans truly are fleeing from danger…Regardless of how they are referred to, hopefully the worst is over and better days are ahead...

Laguna Beach

Jessica: “How am I acting?”
Jason: “You tell me!”

Huh? If you’re complaining about how someone is acting, shouldn’t you be able to tell them, or at least respond with something more than “You tell me…”

Anyway, that line was from a recent episode of Laguna Beach, which has quickly become one of my favorite shows. I’ve only seen three or four episodes thus far, so I still have plenty to learn about the show. However, it has been enough time to for my roommate, Teen Wolf, and I to come up with the foundation for a Laguna Beach drinking game, which should help whenever we have the chance to watch the first season on DVD.

Thus, in honor of seeing Kristin on the Jimmy Kimmel show last night, (as well as the return of college football—and thus—the return of ‘The Brent Musberger Drinking Game’), here are the initial rules we have come up with, and I’m sure we will come up with many more:

-Whenever one of the characters says ‘like’ (preposition) – 1 drink
(Actually, ‘whatever,’ ‘so’ (as in ‘soooo...’), ‘seriously,’ and a ‘wild card’ word or two of your choice should also qualify for 1 drink)
-Whenever one of the characters says ‘totally’ – 2 drinks
-Whenever one of the characters says ‘hot’ – 3 drinks
-Whenever one of the characters says, ‘like’ (verb) – 4 drinks
-Whenever one of the characters says, ‘I know’ OR ‘I don’t know’ – 6 drinks
-And, without mentioning any names, whenever anyone you’re watching the show with (if anyone) comments on the size of Jessica’s breasts (or any other character’s breasts, for that matter) – Finish your beer

For example, the following sentence “I don’t know if she likes him, but he’s like totally hot!” would get you 16 drinks, which—last time I checked—was close to a full beer, if not a full beer…Thus, in this case, Teen Wolf might as well make another boob joke, because you should have finished your beer…

Finally, at the close of the show—when they show you scenes for the next episode—you should finish your beer then, as well, since not only is this round over, but I guarantee you missed the kids say ‘like’ at least 10 times along the way…